Arrow Global still shooting for the stars
MANCHESTER-based purchaser and manager of debt Arrow Global is continuing to enjoy spectacular growth.
First interim results have seen the company’s revenue climb 32.4% to £101.5m (HY 2015: £76.7m) to June 30, driven by core collections up 38% to £138.8m (HY 2015: £100.6m) and income from asset management up 292.7% to £17.2m, leading to an increase in adjusted EBITDA up 60.3% to £105.3m (HY 2015: £65.7m).
Pre-tax profits were up 24.7% to £20.5m (HY 2015: £16.4m) and the listed company’s interim dividend is up to 2.7p (HY 2015: 1.7p).
Highlights included the acquisition of InVesting BV, a consumer debt purchaser and collections provider with operations in the Netherlands and Belgium for an enterprise value of about €100m.
Arrow Global group chief executive Tom Drury said: “ We been pursuing a consistent and proven strategy over many years.
“This has seen us deliver profitable growth in the UK, while continuing to expand at pace internationally and add capital-light servicing revenues to the business. Today’s numbers for the first half of 2016 are very much consistent with these themes.
“In May, we acquired the Dutch and Belgian business, InVesting, for an enterprise value of €100m, aligned to our strategy of being a leading player in each of our chosen markets.
“During H1, we also invested £96.0m in organic portfolio acquisitions, of which 43.5% were in mainland Europe. Purchases continued to be in line with target returns, with an expected 120-month gross cash-on-cash multiple for this vintage of 2.0 times.
“Underlying net income also increased by 25.8% to £19.1m. Over the period, asset management revenues increased to £17.2m and this business is expected to contribute to about 25% of group revenues.
“This strong performance saw us achieve increased underlying basic earnings per share of 10.9p, up 25.8%.
“While we are mindful of the macroeconomic uncertainty prevailing in the UK and more generally, we remain highly confident that our business has strong foundations.”
